Before Bella
by OrchidDreamer
Summary: Before Bella, there was a girl who didn't capture Edwards heart but helped him to see that humans weren't all bad, who helped him to eventually love Bella. Her name, Ashley. Bella will come into the story eventually. First Twilight fic so be nice!
1. Don't you know who I am?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended.**

It was during lunch that I first saw them, the new kids that everybody was talking about. To be honest I really don't know what they were all getting hyper about, there was nothing special about them, well I mean sure they were all gorgeous but there was a simple explanation for that – it showed them for what they really were – and I wanted nothing to do with that.

I sat at my normal table for lunch by myself as usual. Don't get me wrong I'm not some sort of weirdo loner or anything – I'm probably well the most popular girl at school if I do say so myself and to be honest once I start talking you would have to stuff something in my mouth to get me to stop, and I'm usually happy to be surrounded by a huge crowd of people – usually. But not now lunch was my time and everybody knew that, they all knew only to approach me if I called them to me; otherwise I was a force to be reckoned with. They especially knew not to do anything to piss me off during this time – translated means no fights as I was the one usually breaking them up and it annoyed me how petty and stupid humans could sometimes be.

That's when it happened. I could see it in his eyes he was going to do something stupid as usual. I followed his gaze. He was staring at one of the new girls, Alice Cullen, the smallest out of the girls being only 5'1 compared to Rosalie Hales 5'9, her sister – yeah right only I and the rest of their family knew better but they didn't know I knew and it had to stay that way. Lucky for me Joe didn't do anything stupid and I was glad I was in a surprisingly good mood despite the new arrivals.

'_Why is Ashley by herself…the last time I saw her she was surrounded by people and she was happy to be so and now she's like a loner…WAIT! WHY DO I EVEN CARE…OK Edward get a grip…'_

At this my head shoot up and I saw Edward Cullen staring at me, I glared back and he looked away. I couldn't help but smile his mind was quite funny though I'd never tell him that even though I'm sure he'd understand how much it annoys me having to listen to humans minds all the time, I unlike him could turn this power of mine off whenever I wanted but that only happened when I thought I was invading someone's privacy – though that didn't happen…much.

As I sat there glaring at the Cullen's' and the Hales' I couldn't but notice that they were extremely beautiful. There were five of them sitting at their table. Emmett Cullen, Jasper Hale, Edward Cullen, Rosalie Hale and Alice Cullen. Emmett was the largest out of all of them he was muscled with dark curly hair. Jasper was different he was tall, lean and blonde. Rosalie was gorgeous with long golden blonde hair. Alice was pixie like with small features with short spiky black hair. Lastly, there was Edward he was lanky, not so bulky with very untidy hair, which was a cross between red and brown, sort of a bronze colour.

I knew what they were all thinking and they were all thinking similar things, mostly to do with how they really didn't want to be here and how they'd rather be out hunting – anywhere but here. Though I couldn't disagree with them high school was a bore and for them it would have so much worse seeing as they had already been through it so many times in the past. The bell then rang, I knew it was time for class – but I also knew that there was something I had to do on the way to my maths lesson.

I was walking down the corridor when I saw Joe staring at Alice Cullen and I knew what he was thinking and I didn't like it at all. I then saw Edward Cullen and I knew he knew what Joe was thinking by the murderous look in his eyes he was going to pounce any minute so I decided to intervene – quickly. I ran down the hallway to meet Joe blocking his path to Alice.

He smiled "Hi Ash"

"Don't you 'Hi Ash' me. What did I tell you about doing what you were about to do?" I snarled

"Well…you said not to but how did you know what I was thinking?"

"You had that look in your eyes and I know you very well J. Don't ever forget that". He said nothing just smiled at me. Alice had already walked off and reached her class so I knew it was safe to let him leave now.

"Get to class Joe or you and I are going to have some serious issues and you really don't want to have issues with me do you now Joe?" I hissed. He shook his head, scared and ran the other direction. Edward however, did not return to class he stood there and had heard the entire conversation that took place between Joe and I. He had also heard every thought that went through Joe's mind just like I had. I also read his mind and knew he had a million questions for me – none of which I wanted to answer. I wasn't even supposed to be talking to _them_, but I didn't understand why I was supposed to hate them but apparently we were enemies though since they hadn't done anything to me yet I decided to act civil towards them.

I walked up to him. "Yes?" I asked. He just blinked at me like a moron.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Yes. What was that? I was going to beat his face but you got in my way. Why?"

I sighed. "That was me stopping me from you beating his face, I hate fights they' re stupid and really annoying and since I'm not in the mood to listen to everyone tell me about your little fight with Joe I decided to stop it before it even started"

"Fine. Next time don't spoil my fun regardless of your mood," He replied with a glimpse of humour.

I tried to suppress a smile. "Don't talk to me like that. Don't you know who I am?"

"You're Ashley Roberts. And I'm under the impression that you're the most popular girl in school and as so you are probably used to getting your way but not this time" He said laughing to himself

"Well you're right about two things I am Ashley Roberts, call me Ash and I probably am the most popular girl in school – unfortunately, but I don't ever get my way and most of the time I'm glad, but just so you know no-one messes with me when it comes to the 'no fights' rule and I mean no-one" I glared at him. "So stop thinking about doing that" His expression suddenly changed from amused, shocked and then confused.

I smiled and turned my back towards him and walked down the hall to my maths lesson. " See you round" I yelled back to him.

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	2. Secrets

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended. Oh and I realize i updated quite quickly but it wont always be this quick, sorry. Have a lot of exams this month so will be busy studying, I actually should be doing that know so yeah. Enjoy chapter 2!  
**

The next day was better and worse. It was better because it was lunch and nothing major had happened, it had been a fairly uneventful morning for which I was grateful. It was worse because I thought it was better too soon for when I walked into the cafeteria there was a huge crowd of people cheering for a fight – a big one – those were my least favourite.

As soon as I walked through the double doors I was fuming. I stormed up to the crowd yelling at people telling them to back away at first no-one listened because there were other people yelling the same thing-they didn't listen until they realised I was the one who told them to back off. Soon the crowd started to disperse and I saw the cause for all the trouble it was Joe – no shocker there and Edward Cullen and to be honest I wasn't that surprised at that either though I do remember telling him to back and that I would tell with the situation at hand – that boy needed to learn how to listen to others.

Edward and Joe had fistfuls of the others shirts in their hands glaring at each other. Edward's two brothers Emmett and Jasper were holding him back, while Joe's two best friends Mike and Eric were holding him back.

"How dare you, I saw you yesterday don't think I didn't know what you were planning in that little head of yours" Edward yelled

"I don't know what your talking about, besides I didn't do anything so get your hands off of me you psycho" Joe retorted

Edward was fuming his looks were deathly. I knew if I didn't step in soon I would regret it so I ran up to them yelling, "STOP! GUYS STOP FIGHTING…THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" I tried tugging at their arms, forcing them to let go of one another but they didn't move. So I decided to go underneath their arms, in the small space between them, fuming. I turned to face Joe knowing he would be the easiest to crack; I had the most control over him.

"Joe, let go of Edward now" I snarled

"Ash I am not letting him get away with this"

"With what Joe?" I asked sarcastically "If I recall correctly this is your fault Cullen here as every right to beat the shit out of you and if I didn't show up yesterday we both know what would have happened and don't you even dare think about giving me one of your innocent expressions cause no dice, now back away before I give you something to really be terrified of"

"Fine" and he let go of Edward brushing Edward's hands of off him and stalked of to his usual table.

With him sorted I turned around and glared at Edward, my eyes turning to slits as I shot daggers at him.

"I told you I would deal with this. What the hell were you thinking?" I hissed

"Look this had nothing to do with you so just back off ok? I don't need your help"

"I never said you needed my help idiot, trust me you don't want to do anything to piss me off and right now you're making me extremely mad so just turn around and go back to your family and do not try anything again. I will deal with Joe he's one of my best guy friends and as you can probably tell he shit scared of me just like the rest of the school when you start picking fights during my time" I snarled

"Your time?" he snorted

"Yeah you heard right my time," I said. "Now please could you go back to your family so I can deal with Joe, please." I begged much more quietly.

Edward seemed taken back by my change in mood; all he could do was nod. He slowly turned around and walked back to his family. I exhaled quickly, now all I had to do was deal with Joe – great.

With that I took a deep breath and headed in Joe's direction, he was sitting by himself like always after a fight.

"Hey" I whispered

"Hi"

"So do you want to tell me what happened over there?" I asked while nodding my head towards the Cullen's table.

"Not really," I shot him a look "Fine, look I just walked into the cafeteria and all of a sudden Cullen was all up in my face about what didn't happen yesterday. Its not like I was going to do anything yesterday anyway, that guy is seriously messed up you know. I tried to explain that to him but he just wouldn't listen, next thing I know he was about ready to pounce," I smiled at that "and you know I wasn't going to let that happen so I got ready to and then things kinda got out of hand from there" he turned and looked at me, his eyes truly regretful "I'm so sorry Ash…I really am"

"Shhh don't worry about it, come here"

I wrapped my arms around him and we sat like that for a while before Joe was alright enough to let go. He got up, turned to me and smiled before walking off to his friends. I then had to take care of Edward, the boy just didn't listen, well let's got this over with I thought. So I got up and made my way over to their table, listening to his thoughts on my way over.

"_I could have had that kid Joe I think his name was if my brothers and that girl Ashley hadn't got in the way. Who does she think she is? Her time? What the hell is that about seriously…" _after that I got too bored and tuned him out. Once I reached their table they all looked shocked to say the least. I smiled and said

"Hey Edward can I talk to you please?"

"Sure"

He got up and followed my lead into the hallway outside of the cafeteria. Once outside and far enough away so his family couldn't listen to our conversation, which happened to be the dance studio, I took a breath and turned to face him.

"So what was the fight about?"

"You know what it was about" he snapped

"Look Joe is really upset right now because he doesn't know what he did wrong for you to get in his face like that and to be honest he didn't even do anything, he was just thinking about it ok? So next time just let me deal it hurts me to see him upset and you're not helping," I hissed

"Well I'm sorry its just...wait how did you know what he was thinking?"

"I never said I did, I just know him but you do," I said

"I do what?" he asked

"You do know what he was thinking don't you and don't even try to deny it because I already know: about you and your family"

"How?"

"I just do ok," I snapped

"No that's not ok, how can you know so much about me and I know nothing about you"

"You want to know something about me...hmm lets see, I like cooking and oh I'm an amazing dancer but you wont ever see me dance and that's all you've earned. Sorry" With that I ran off leaving in my trail a shocked Edward.

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	3. Questions, answers and more questions

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

After a whole night tossing and turning, I was irritable to say the least. What didn't help was the fact that my chemistry teacher, Mr Smith, kept going on and on about something I couldn't care less about, though I probably should have been paying attention, there just wasn't any point. So I sat there, through the entire lesson staring out of the window thinking about the new kids mostly and what Matt had said the night before.

I had been careful not to let it slip that there were vampires at school, and judging from his reaction to the word vampire alone I knew that was a good call. For some reason Matt seemed to loathe vampires, though I had no idea why, he didn't tell me, and avoided the question as much as possible, which was annoying to say the least. I will have to ask Chris about it when he gets back from wherever he was this week.

I guess I should explain a few things; Chris and Matt are my adopted brothers, their parents adopted me a year or so ago when they realised what I was, for some reason they felt it was necessary to take me in straight away, not that I'm complaining not at all, not even close. It wasn't until I realised what they had meant, that I understood why they took me in so quickly, again not complaining. My birth parents died when I was young, too young to even remember them and too young for them to explain to me what I was and what I could do. Now, even my adopted parents are dead, though I don't know how they died, Chris and Matt decided to keep that a secret from me and blocked their thoughts from me for a while after their death so I wouldn't know what happened. Because of what we are, sometimes we have to leave to go sort things out in other places, which is why I'm by myself at the moment, also why neither Matt or Chris know about the Cullen's' or I'm sure something _really_ bad would have happened by now.

So I would have to ask Chris about Matt's strange behaviour when he got back, I was then suddenly pulled from my thoughts and into a vision. It happened so fast and I only saw flashes, which has never happened before. All I saw was the cafeteria, blood and Jasper. That was all I saw, what was happening, but all I know for now is that my lunch is going to be far from boring.

I walked anxiously towards the cafeteria, hoping that nothing had happened yet. I took a deep breath and walked through the double doors, everything looked the same, I released a breath I didn't even know I was holding and walked towards my normal seat. I risked a quick peak at the Cullen's table and saw all of them there including Jasper. I then looked round the entire cafeteria and saw nothing out of the ordinary. As I sat there thinking, I was suddenly pulled into another vision, it was of a clock then blood, the clock read one o'clock. As my vision ended I quickly spun my head around and looked at the time it was five to one, without thinking I ran over to the Cullen's table.

"You need to leave quickly," I whispered, staring straight at Jasper. Jasper looked confused, which I guess is an understandable reaction but know was not the time for things like that he had to leave and quickly.

"Jasper, seriously you need to leave, some kid over there," I said while pointing to the kid, "is going to have a huge nosebleed in about two minutes and you need to be gone because other wise it aint going to be pretty and we all know how hard it is for you to control yourself, now go, trust me."

While I was ranting it seemed that Alice had a vision. Japer turned to look at Alice as if to ask if what I said was right, Alice nodded her head, the entire table gave me a strange look while leaving the room, everyone but Edward had left. Then the nosebleed occurred, it seemed that Edward was not affected as much by the blood as he just stood there. I looked at him, smiled slightly then turned on my heels and walked back to my seat. Edward said nothing but silently followed me and sat opposite me.

"Yes, did you want something?" I asked

"No, I'm just…I'm just trying to figure you out, that's all," He replied

"How's that working for you?" I questioned

"Not so great thanks for asking,"

"Well now you're welcome," with that we both started laughing, not because of what was being said, obviously, just at the awkwardness of the situation. Once we had stopped laughing, Edward took a deep breath.

"So how did you know what was going to happen, with the kid and the nosebleed and Japer?" He asked

"How did Alice?" I answered

We sat there glaring at each other, silently willing the other to back down and answer first. Of course no one did, we sat in silence glaring until the end of lunch, which was when I gave up and walked to my next class.

At the end of the day I was surprised, to say the least, to see Edward waiting for me outside my classroom. He seemed to be deep in thought until he saw me, then he smiled in my direction. I was slightly taken aback by his change in emotion so quickly, but I smiled back anyway, not wanting to be rude.

"So you never did tell me how you knew," he said

"And as I recall you never told me how Alice knew either,"

"Well you know you could just tell me to make my life much easier,"

"Now why would I want to do that?" Edward laughed at that, and smiled at me

"I don't know,"

"Exactly," I beamed at him, as we left the school building laughing. But the amiable atmosphere was about to change suddenly, and I had no idea.

"ASHLEY!" someone yelled. My head snapped in the direction of the voice, the voice I recognised

"Matt," I whispered "Oh no,"

"What, what is it?" Edward asked

"Nothing, its just my brother,"

"Then why do you seem worried?"

"I'm not, well its just he doesn't particularly like you – "

"Me? But he doesn't even know me," Edward asked confused

"Well think about it its kinda obvious why he doesn't like you, I mean what are you again?" Realisation hit Edward at those words

"Oh,"

"Yeah oh,"

"ASHLEY!"

"Shit! I gotta go, bye," I said while running towards Matt. I was so dead.

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	4. Fights and Disappearances

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, I had really important exams to revise for BUT they are now finished. YAY!! So that means I should be able to update more regularly from now on. So thanks for waiting and reading. Enjoy chapter 4!  
**

I took my time walking back home after that, trying to brace myself for what was about to come. Though I still had no idea what had gotten into Matt and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be finding out anytime soon, but that was going to change. As I reached my front door, I froze, maybe this wasn't the best idea, I could easily go round Lisa's house and stay the night I had done it before, and it would definitely safer than going through the door. But before I could leave I heard, "Ashley! Get in here!"

"Great," I murmured. So I took a deep breath and walked through the door. Placing my bag in the front room of our house, I walked slowly into the living room, surprised when I saw Chris was home as well.

"Hey," I said smiling, while giving him a hug, "What are you doing home so early?"

"Matt rang,"

"That still doesn't explain things," I pointed out

"Ash what is wrong with you hanging out with that…that thing…that monster?" Matt asked. I frowned.

"I wasn't exactly hanging out with him – "

"Well that's what it looked like to me," Matt interrupted

"Yeah well stuff happened at lunch and he wanted to know what was up, that was it. Anyway why do you hate him so much you don't even know him? And yes I know it's the face that he's a vampire but seriously I can look after myself, he wouldn't have stood a chance if he tried anything." I replied, slightly irritated. Matt glared at me, while Chris placed a hand on his shoulder, as if to calm him down.

"Look, that's not it, you know how we feel about vampires, they hunt and kill humans, we cant let them live you know, they could hurt someone," Chris explained

"But they wont – "

"They're VAMPIRES Ashley of course they will – " Matt interrupted

"No, you don't understand they live on animals, they don't drink human blood and therefore they don't hurt them," Both Chris and Matt kept silent for a few minutes.

"That doesn't change anything," Matt whispered

"Matt, come on don't do this at least give them a chance, if what Ash says is true and she wouldn't lie to us than we should at least give them that," Chris said

"Give them a chance? Seriously? Even after what their kind did to us?" Matt replied, annoyed

"What did they do?" I asked. Both Matt and Chris looked at me shocked, it seems that they had forgotten I was still in the room; they then turned to each other and nodded.

"Well, I suppose it time you knew," Matt started

"We didn't want you to know but I suppose its time you learnt how our parents died, well how they were killed," Chris continued

"And by our parents we mean ours and yours," Matt finished. I was shocked to say the least.

"What?" I whispered.

"I'm sorry Ash but vampires killed our parents, all of them, that's why Matt hates them so much, even though we both dealt with those ones," Chris replied. I nodded, in understanding, knowing what they had done.

"I still don't understand why you hate the Cullen's, I mean they didn't do it because well they still wouldn't be around and I would have seen it if they did," Matt glared at me

"Seriously? You don't hate them, after what their kind did?"

"No, they didn't do anything. Its not like they wanted to be a vampire, it just happened, like with us, you cant change certain things, it was just their time to go. You can't blame an entire species for something a few of them did," I replied, glaring back. Matt didn't even reply he just left the room in a fit of rage. I turned to look at Chris, who had a sympathetic and understanding look in his eyes. He smiled then walked out after Matt.

I then spent the rest of the day, staying out of Matt's way, the few times I saw him was not good. We kept fighting, shouting and screaming at each other about the smallest, pettiest things really. I mean I understood why he would hate vampires but to kill them all for something someone already dead did was stupid, and the Cullen's didn't even hunt humans so they weren't really a threat, besides I was watching them, keeping a very close eye. That night I went to bed early, too exhausted from the fighting to stay up.

I was woken up suddenly by a door slamming. I shot out of bed and knew, Matt. I ran towards his room, and found it empty. I ran back to my room, grabbed a jacket, my phone, my car keys and shoes, before I ran to my car to stop him before he did something stupid, and I knew exactly who or what he was going to see; the Cullen's.

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	5. What's wrong with you?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

I drove as fast as I could, hoping that I would reach Matt before he did something stupid, though not necessarily regret. I reached into my jacket pocket and grabbed my mobile and dialled Matt's number as fast I could, praying he had his phone on him. The phone rang for what seemed hours before finally someone picked up.

"Ash don't do something stupid," Matt said answering the phone

"Me? You're the one who is doing something stupid," I replied shocked, "Seriously Matt stop and turn the car around. Don't do this,"

"Do what?" Matt asked innocently

"Don't do what you're thinking about in that little head of yours, leave the Cullen's alone,"

"There you go again, protecting _them_," he sneered, "Why are you choosing them over your own family?"

"I'm not choosing anyone, I'm doing what is right,"

"Right? I'm doing what's right!" Matt shouted

"Really! Don't you see by killing them you're exactly like them, the ones who killed our parents?"

"How?"

"They killed our parents for no reason, _you_ are doing the same to the Cullen's," I explained. There was silence on the other side of the line as Matt thought what I had said through.

"So be it," he replied before hanging up. I was shocked to say the least, but all I could do was hit the gas and hope I reached him first.

As I drove, I eventually saw Matt's car in the distance, I hit the gas once more hoping it would be enough to catch up to him. Unfortunately, Matt saw me coming and he in turn hit the gas, he was also too preoccupied looking at where I was that he didn't see another car turn, and he drove straight into it. I froze in shock, before I quickly composed myself and drove as fast as I could to the crash site.

I ran out of my car as fast as I could, and found Matt in the drivers seat and was bleeding a lot. As I got him out of the wreckage, he began to slowly regain consciousness.

"What happened?" he asked as I dragged him towards my car

"You got into an accident, come on we gotta get you outta here, I've called the police they should be on their way now. They can't see you, we wouldn't be able to explain it,"

"I know. I know," he whispered, "How is the other guy?"

" I don't know, I'm gonna go check now before I deal with the car,"

I ran towards the other car, and checked the guys pulse; he was still alive, thankfully. So I pulled him out of the wreckage as the cars as caught on fire. When he was safe, I started working on the car. I caused the fire spread faster, across Matt's car so that it would unrecognisable by the time the police came. With the car sorted I ran back to my car, and drove home as fast as possible.

The next morning, Matt was completely healed, no sign of injury at all, he also continually apologized before I snapped.

"Matt if you don't stop apologizing you will have something to be sorry about," I yelled. Matt looked taken back, while Chris just laughed.

"Sorry," Matt whispered

"Ahhhh!" I yelled before storming out of the house, into my car and to school.

School wasn't much better. Edward kept asking about me what had happened after I had left him yesterday, to which I always replied nothing, yet he didn't seem to get that. He also kept apologizing for getting me into trouble. God what is with people and apologizing to me today I though as I made my way to the cafeteria, thankful for some peace and quiet for the day.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any. As soon as I sat down Edward and his family decided to join me. I looked up at glared at Edward, 'If looks could kill'; I heard someone think and had to hold back my laughter, too bad he's already dead I thought. Edward however, just smiled at me.

"So, Alice had another vision," Edward said while taking a seat opposite me

"How nice," I replied still glaring

"Don't you wanna know what it was about?"

"Nope," I replied popping the 'p'. Edward smiled

"Are you sure? It involves you, you know,"

"Still don't care," I replied still glaring

"Edward, this was a waste of time she's obviously not bothered, lets just go," Rosalie said

"Yeah, Edward listen to your sis and leave me alone,"

"I don't think I will," Edward teased

"Okay then, I'm gonna leave you alone," I replied getting up and gathering my things, "Bye," I said walking off. Leaving behind a very annoyed Edward and a very confused family.

By the end of the day Edward had still not given up, luckily for him I was in a much better mood and didn't kill him.

"Hey," he said

"Hi," I replied, " So about lunch, don't ever do that again. You irritate me and you wouldn't want me to do something I might not regret," Edward just smiled

"Yeah, sure," he replied, "So what we were wondering is if you might want to come back to our house, Carlisle wants to meet you,"

"Why?"

"What?" I let out an exasperated sigh

"Why does he want to meet me?"

"Oh because you know our secret, he wants to check that you wont say anything – "

"Well I'm telling you so – "

"So he still wants to meet you, so does Esme, please?" I glared at him until I gave up.

"Fine, but I'm not happy about it," I replied

"Great, just follow my car," he said running of to meet his family.

As we reached up to his house, well more like mansion, I couldn't help but stare at how nice it was, for vampires they certainly knew how to live. A knock on my window brought me out of the trance I was in; I looked up and saw Edward smirking at me. I glared back as I got out of my car. Alice and Edward guided me to their house, Edward was silent but Alice and I spoke a little, she seemed really nice, unfortunately for me I could tell we were going to be good friends.

As we reached the front door, Edward opened it and let Alice and I enter before entering himself. I gasped, the interior of his house was much nicer than the exterior, stupid vampires I thought to myself.

"You must be Ashley," Carlisle said

"Yeah, I must," Carlisle smiled

"I'm Carlisle and this is my wife Esme," he said will pointing to the woman standing beside him. I smiled in acknowledgement. "So you know about us, do you mind me asking how?" I smiled.

"You can ask but I cant tell you the answer, sorry," Before Carlisle got another word in Alice came running down the stairs, grabbed my arm pulling up them.

"Come on," she said. I couldn't help but laugh and waved at Carlisle and Esme.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with Alice and Rosalie, they turned out to be really nice, even Rosalie. We passed the time talking and getting to know each other a better, before the boys came in, then we just talked about anything and everything, mostly everything. Then suddenly, everyone froze and turned to look at each other, while I sat there confused. Alice then looked at me.

"We should go downstairs," she said. We all then got up and made our way downstairs, while we were on the stairs I saw Chris, who had also spotted me.

"Ashley, what's wrong with you?" he asked

"Matt doesn't know I'm here does he?" I replied anxiously.

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	6. Complications

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infingement intended! **

**A/N: I'm sorry for the short chapter, but if I included the next part it would be REALLY long and the next part is important so I wanted to separate it a bit. The next chapter will be MUCH LONGER I promise. Till next time, enjoy a short chapter 6!**

I stood on the stairs for what seemed like an eternity before Chris answered the question.

"No, not yet," he replied. I let out a breath I wasn't aware of holding, "But he will soon, we've got to go," I said nothing but nodded and ran down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Carlisle asked

"Sorry but I've gotta go, will explain later, bye," I replied while running out of the door and into my car.

Chris and I arrived back home just before Matt did, the car journey was a quite one and once Matt got home, neither one of us spoke about where I was or what I was doing there. For some reason I felt that Chris had known all along, but I couldn't be sure of it, we also made some sort of an unspoken pact, not to say anything, it was the only way, Matt was unpredictable and neither of us could live with what would've happen had he known.

School. Suddenly, I hated it. I had never really hated school, sure I disliked it at times, didn't always want to go but hate it, no, until now. Since the Cullen's had arrived my life had become even more complicated than it already was. I suppose the problem wasn't just them, it was Chris, Matt and I, Matt mostly. Since I had met them, I had contemplated telling them my secret, a secret no one else knew but my family. Before I had left to go to school that morning Chris grabbed my arm.

"Don't," he said

"What?" I replied confused. He sighed.

"I know what you're planning, just don't, it will be found out but now is not the time. Soon though," he replied. I stared at him, confused but nodded and agreed not to tell.

At school, I was surprised when neither of the Cullen's asked about the previous night, though they all had decided it was fine to sit with me at lunch, and I didn't really have a problem, which shocked the rest of the school. And after school, like the previous day I went round to their house.

As I predicted Alice, Rose and I had become close friends, not just them though but all of them, and it wasn't right. But it had become routine, everyday I would spend more and more time with them. It had been two months and so far neither of them knew my secret and Matt didn't know I was spending time with them either. For once, I suppose my life wasn't so difficult, boy was I wrong.

Suddenly, I was pulled into a vision; one that included the Cullen's, Matt, Chris and myself, it also included Astroth. There was no way that this could end well. So much for things not being difficult, I though as I ran out of my room to get Matt and Chris, I couldn't deal with Astroth by myself and he had to be dealt with regardless of the consequences.

**So? What do you think? Reviews would be nice! Agian, sorry its so short!**


	7. Revelations

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: Guess who got a snowday today? Yup, that would be me! As a result a spent the day writing this and playing in the snow of course! So for your reading pleasure I give you chapter 7!  
**

Chris, Matt and I reached the clearing with time to spare, Astroth had not arrived yet and neither had the Cullen's. We looked round for someplace to hide and figure out some sort of plan, we ended up in a tree. A tree of all places, well that's what you get when you're in a forest, I thought to myself. We stood, high enough so that we wouldn't be seen, but not too high that we wouldn't be able to see the ground.

As we waited Chris and Matt argued about the plan and strategies, I however, thought that plans were stupid because we rarely ever stuck to them, but Matt and Chris would insist it was a necessity and I would laugh at them every time.

We waited for what seemed like days until, Matt saw something move behind some bushes and signalled us over. After a few seconds, we found the cause of the movement, it was the Cullen's: it looked like they were racing and to no-one surprise Edward had won, and Emmett and per usual was sulking. I laughed to myself at the scene below while Matt scowled.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Vampires? How lovely. Don't you think so?" Astroth said to his followers, whose voice had startled the Cullen's, while Chris, Matt and I watched silently, waiting to make our move.

"Who are you?" Carlisle asked

"I'm Astroth, and I would ask who you were but I don't particularly care," he replied, "Its been a long time since I came across vampires, not so common now a days. Pity, I always gained a lot strength from vampires, well at least this will make up for it," The Cullen's stood confused, while I got ready to make myself known.

"What are you doing Ash?" Matt asked

"I'm going to help them, they're not gonna stand a chance against him," I replied like it wasn't obvious

"Why? They deserve this," I sighed

"Because, Astroth needs to be stopped, if he gets the Cullen's he will be even stronger and he's strong enough as it is. Besides it our job to protect innocents and in this case those innocents happen to be the Cullen's, we can't just pick and choose whom we help. It's not fair and everything happens for a reason Matt, you taught me that remember?"

"Fine," Matt replied grudgingly, "You're right, we can't let Astroth win, even if I hate the Cullen's,"

"A hate they don't deserve," I replied. Matt glared at me.

"I wouldn't go that far Ash,"

"Guys, come on we gotta go, Astroth looks like he might strike," Chris said. We all turned our heads, and realised he was right, Astroth's hand was twitching, like he was getting ready to fire, then he did.

I jumped down from the branch and landed in front of the Cullen's, lifted my arm up and deflected the fireball.

"Astroth, long time no see," I said

"Ashley, my, my. It had been long, too long in fact," he replied

"I'm sure it has and I think we have some unpaid debt to settle,"

"And what might that be?" he questioned

"You owe me your life," I stated

"Oh really, and you expect to get it all by yourself, don't forget what happened the last time," I glared at him, "And unless you haven't realised you are outnumbered,"

"I'm not by myself though and maybe you should look around," I replied smugly. Astroth turned his head slightly and saw that Matt and Chris had dealt with his two followers. He smiled.

"Ashley, darling – "

"Don't call me that," I snarled

"Did you really think those were the only two I had brought with me, come on now you know me better than that," With that a group of about fifty emerged from the trees, all with fire balls in the palms of their hands.

"Shit," I whispered, "Matt, Chris yet behind me," I yelled. I quickly lifted up my arms and created a field around all ten of us, just in time as the balls of fire were blasted continuously in our direction. I held them back for as long as possible, Matt and Chris were getting the potions ready but they were taking their sweet time about it if you were asking me.

"Ready?" I asked

"Ready," they replied simultaneously.

I nodded, and pushed the field back causing all of the fireballs to bounce back in the opposite direction, before Chris and Matt threw the vials, which caused many explosions. By the time they were done, the only thing left was Astroth. He looked shocked to say the least; the smile was now wiped off from his face. Though it was far from over, Astroth wasn't one to give up so easily; he would fight himself if it meant he got what he wanted. It happened so quickly after that point, Astroth threw a blade that hit Chris, Matt and I ran to help him, which was a stupid thing to do. As soon as I turned my back Astroth leaped up and grabbed Edward from behind and held him, tightly not allowing any movement from the vampire.

"NO!" I yelled, as I moved the blade from Chris' chest before lunging it at Astroth, of course it made little impact but enough to make him release Edward.

"Matt," I yelled. As I did, he knew what I was saying, he grabbed the last few vials of potion we had and threw them at the demon, and while he was down, I ran towards Matt, held his hand along with Chris' before reciting an incantation, to make sure Astroth was down and stayed down. It worked, like his followers a large explosion occurred and Astroth was dead, for now. He always seemed to have a way of coming back.

I walked over towards the Cullen's who were all huddled around Edwards body, unfortunately Astroth was able to take a small amount of Edwards energy but a small amount would be all it would take to weaken a person.

"He'll be ok," I said. They all turned sharply and glared at me, I shrunk back.

"What?" Rose said with venom in her voice

"He'll be ok, just give him a few hours maybe less and he'll be back to normal, I just need to give him something,"

"Give him what?"

"A potion, it heals," I replied quietly

"You are not giving him anything," she snapped, "What the hell are you anyway," I glared back

"Well, if you want him to die then fine I wont give him the potion but that's on your head,"

"What do you mean he'll die," Alice asked

"When Astroth held him, he was draining his energy, but even if you take a small amount it weakens your body, but even without Astroth there anymore, the process continues until all of your energy is gone and you die, even of you're already dead," I explained

"Then give him the potion," Esme said. I nodded.

"I don't have it with me, take him back to your house and I will come by later with the potion, I have to deal with my brother first," They all nodded. I ran off to find Matt healing Chris' wound.

"Need help?" I asked. He nodded. We both sat in silence with our hands on top of the wound, slowly it healed, and Chris sat up slightly confused. Matt and I just laughed, as we made our way back home.

I ran into the house, grabbed the potion I needed, before running back out and into my car. I reached the Cullen's house in record time, hoping that I wasn't too late. Before, I could knock; Alice opened the door, grabbed my arm and dragged me to the living room, where Edward was lying on the sofa with the rest of his family huddling around him.

"Here," I said passing the vial to Carlisle, "Make sure he drinks all of it and he should be fine in no time," He took the vial and nodded.

"Will you let me know what happens?" I asked

"You're not staying?" Rose questioned. I turned to her confused.

"No, I think it would be best if I didn't," I replied

"Don't be silly. Stay," she said smiling, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier I was just upset I didn't mean to snap at you like that, you were only trying to help and to be honest if you didn't turn up more of us might have ended up like that," she continued pointing to Edward.

"Speaking of which, what exactly did you do? And what are you?" Japer asked. I took a deep breath.

"Well, I suppose its only fair. I'm a witch," I stood watching everyone as they digested the information I had relayed to them, I then felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, it was a text from Matt. I looked up.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. Matt needs me, could you keep me updated on Edward and I'll see you guys at school tomorrow," I said while heading for the door. Behind me I could incoherent mumblings of what I think was 'yeah', 'sure', 'whatever'.

Tomorrow would definitely be interesting, I thought to myself as I drove away from their house.

**Well? What do you think? Reviews welcomed with open arms! Which translated means REVIEW PLEASE!!!**


	8. Leaving

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in ages, its just that I've been really busy with exams and work and a lot of other stuff has been going on that had me stressed and I didn't want to write, let alone have time to. So I'm really sorry but here is chapter 8, for your enjoyment only!  
**

Once, I reached my house, I walked in and found Matt and Chris in the living room, whispering and it seemed like making plans.

"What going on? I got your text to come home immediately, what's the emergency?" I asked. Chris and Matt looked at each other, silently willing the other to answer. I didn't say anything; for once I just stood silently waiting for the answer. Matt took a deep breath, before answering.

"You see the thing is Chris and I have to leave again – "

"When?" I questioned

"Tomorrow morning," Chris replied

"Why so soon? What's going on?"

"It's an emergency, Matt and I aren't entirely sure what's going on as it is, but we thought you should know, and – "

"We're going to be gone for a couple of months,"

"Months?!" I exclaimed, they had only ever been gone for a few weeks at most, one month tops.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry Ash but we can't not go, but we will try to keep in touch as much as possible,"

I didn't know what to say, I stood frozen but nodded so that Matt knew I was listening. We all stood in the living room for a few more minutes' no one moving or saying anything, until the phone ringing pulled us all out of our statue-like state. I shook my head and made my way to pick up the phone while Matt and Chris went back to planning and packing.

"Hello," I whispered

"Hey, its Alice,"

"Hi Alice," I replied

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, how's Edward?"

"He seems to be doing better,"

"That's great but erm I need to go, see you at school Alice, bye," I replied before hanging up, I still wasn't over the shock of Matt and Chris leaving so soon and for so long.

The next morning, I woke up early so that I could say goodbye to my brothers. I quickly go ready, and made my way down the stairs into the passageway of luggage.

"Hey guys," I said, they both looked up at me, "You all ready to go?"

"Yeah," Matt replied, "You know we don't want to do this don't you?"

"Yeah I do, don't worry I'll be fine, you just go and do what you need to do," I said

"Listen, I want you to promise me something before I go," Matt said

"What?" I asked

"I want you to stay away from the Cullen's, please, I know you're friendly with them but it'll help me feel better about leaving you here if you promise me that and stick to it, please Ashley," I stared at Matt like he was crazy and was ready to fight back before I realised that I didn't want him to leave and us be in a fight, so instead I nodded and promised him that I would stay away from the Cullen's. I gave them both a hug and a kiss goodbye, before standing in the doorway and watching them drive away. I took a deep breath and started to get ready for school.

The beginning of the day since I got to school seems like a blur, and before I knew it I was on my way to the cafeteria. As I walked through the double doors I spotted the Cullen's apart from Edward sitting in my usual table, I scanned the room and saw Joe sitting by himself; I decided that he was my best bet. I walked past my normal table and towards Joe, as I did so the Cullen's expressions varied from hurt to confusion.

"Hey,"

"Hey Ash what's up?"

"They left again," I replied, Joe looked at me with a knowing look, it hurt more than I let my brothers know when they left. I sat down beside Joe and leaned into him, he put his arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

"For how long?"

"A few months," He looked at me shocked, hugged me and then for the remainder of lunch we sat and talked about anything and everything except the Cullen's and my brothers.

Before I knew it the end of the day had arrived, as I walked towards my car I saw Alice standing beside it looking directly at me.

"Hey Alice," I said nonchalantly

"What going on with you today?" she asked worried

"Nothing," I replied sternly

"You're lying," she accused

"Just go Alice, unless you have something else to say," I snapped. Alice shrunk back hurt.

"Well actually I came to tell you that Edwards worse than he was yesterday, no one knows why and we though you would but obviously you don't care, that's a death on your head," she said before storming off. I drove off home.

That evening, I sat in my house wanting to go and see Edward and make sure he was ok, but the promise I made Matt stopped me from doing so. I didn't want to hurt Matt but I couldn't let Edward die. I got up and started pacing, going through the pros and cons of going to see the Cullen's. After a few minutes I gave up and screamed, throwing whatever I could across the room. In the end I decided that saving a life was better than purposely letting one die because of a promise. I ran to my car, and drove as fast as I could towards the Cullen's house, hoping that I wasn't too late.

I pulled up to the Cullen's drive, ran out of my car and knocked on their door, hoping they didn't all hate me. Alice opened the door, just my luck, I thought to myself.

"What are you doing here?" she sneered. I shrunk back

"Well you said Edward wasn't well so I thought I could help,"

"Why do you care?"

"I always cared Alice,"

"It didn't seem so in the parking lot today," she snapped

"Well that's because of a stupid promise that once after he's ok I will go back to keeping,"

"What promise?" Alice asked. I took a deep breath.

"I promised Matt that while he was away I would stay away from all of you,"

"Why?"

"Why what?

"Why would you promise that if you 'cared' about us?"

"Because I didn't want him to leave with me being angry at him, and him hating me, because I don't know when I'll see him again and I didn't want to leave it like that," I replied. Alice looked at me before hugging me.

"Its ok, come on in, Edwards in his room," she said, taking my hand and leading me up the stairs to the third floor of their house.

When she opened the door and walked in, I saw the whole family sitting around a bed placed in the centre of his room, with Edward in it, looking extremely pale, even for a vampire.

"What happened?" I whispered

"We don't know," Carlisle replied. I walked towards the bed and stood beside Edward looking down on him, I thought of healing him but I didn't know how well it would work, if it could even work. I decided to give it a try anyway. I placed my hands on either side of his head and concentrated.

"What are you doing?" Japer asked

"Shh," I replied

After a few minutes, Edward looked better; he blinked and opened his eyes. I stepped back, Carlisle then started examining Edward himself to make sure he was now ok. I left them all to it, walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind me before walking back to my car and going home.

"Wait!" someone yelled while I was walking towards my car. I turned around and saw Alice and Edward behind me.

"What?" I asked

"Thanks," Edward answered

"Your welcome," I said before unlocking my car

"Why don't you stay?" Alice asked

"You know why Alice," I replied

"Yeah but – "

"No, Alice," I interrupted, "No buts, I can't do that to Matt, I'm sorry,"

"Ash," Edward whispered, "Please stay, just for a little while,"

"I cant, Edward, I'm sorry," I replied before getting into me car and driving home.

Once I got home however, things did not get better. I pulled up into my drive and something felt wrong. I walked slowly up the pathway to my house, quietly opened the door and walked through. Inside I found five vampires, waiting for me.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped

**So? What do you think? I would like to know all of your thought and feelings on this chapter please! Review please!**


	9. Change

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: I'm sorry its has taken so long to update, I've been really busy with final exams coming up soon and I've kinda had a stroke of writers block, and I will try to update a bit more often but as I said I have exams coming up so we'll see. I'm really sorry for keeping you all waiting though!  
**

"Well?" I demanded, after no one answered

"What's wrong with you?" Jasper inquired

"Ask Alice on your way out," I replied

"We are not going anywhere, not until you stop being so stupid," Rose replied

"You will be going somewhere…home…now," I snapped

"Why?" Emmett asked

"Because I said so, and because it's my house,"

"But you don't really want us to go, do you?" Jasper asked. I glared at him.

"Fine don't go, but leave me alone. Stupid empathic vampire prat," I said before storming up the stairs and into my room.

Once I reached my room however, the phone rang.

"Don't answer it!" I yelled, before running as fast as I could to the phone downstairs.

"Hey," Joe said

"Hi, what's up?" I asked

"So I'm coming round tonight," I laughed

"Of course you are, when?"

"Erm I don't really know,"

"So usual,"

"Yup,"

"Ok then I'll see you whenever, but its your turn this time,"

"Ok, but only cause they've gone, see ya later,"

"Laters mate," I said before hanging up. I turned around and saw four vampires giving me strange looks.

"What?" I snapped. They all said nothing but shook their heads, sighed and then turned to leave. 'Finally' I thought to myself. After they left I didn't do much, just chores. After dinner the doorbell rang. But who was on the other side, was not who I was expecting.

"Matt?" I questioned, "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, well I really shouldn't be here but Chris made me feel bad about what I made you promise, so I snuck out to apologize and to tell you that you don't have to stick to it, it doesn't matter to me anymore," He replied quickly

"Huh?" was the only response I was able to find.

"I said that you don't have to keep the promise you made," Matt replied more slowly. I smacked his arm for being so stupid.

"I didn't mean that! I meant why?"

"Well Chris made me feel bad about it, and the truth is I should've known it was wrong of me to ask that from you, I just…I don't know okay…but I'm really sorry and to be honest I was just worried about you, you know if they tried to hurt you but I should know by now that you're not one to sit back and take it…I know that you can look after yourself and kick their asses if they tried anything," I didn't know what to say. So I stood frozen for a few minutes processing what had just been said. Once I had snapped out of it, I hugged Matt.

"Thank you," I whispered, and gave him a peck on the cheek before he left again.

It wasn't soon after Matt left that Joe turned up. We didn't do much, just laze around watching movies and talking, which is something that we hadn't done for a while. It was during that time that I realised how much I had missed Joe. After spending a lot of time with the Cullen's I had accidently left him behind.

"Hey Joe," I whispered, while we were lying on the living room floor before going to bed

"Yeah,"

"I'm really sorry,"

"About what?" he asked confused, sitting up

"About not spending enough time with you," I replied, also sitting up. "I mean I've missed you, and I've kind of left you for the Cullen's in a way, and I'm really sorry for that, but you know you're still my best friend right?"

"Hey, its ok, I mean you still came back to me right?" he said grinning like a Cheshire cat, "Besides you couldn't get rid of me if you tried,"

"Yeah that's true, and Lord knows I've tried," I said laughing, before we both fell asleep.

The next day, school was basically the same as always. Edward had returned to school, yet him and the rest of the Cullen's ignored me, but I guess I deserved it after how I had treated them. I didn't let that get me too down, I spent the day comfortably with Joe laughing and joking around. The end of school came faster than usual, not that I was complaining. As I made my way to my car, my eyes locked with Edwards, while he was entering his, I smiled, he nodded ever so slightly and we went our separate ways.

Once I got home, the day wasn't any different than others except the house seemed empty, which made sense because it was only me, and it affected my otherwise good mood. While I was doing the dishes the doorbell rang, as I made my way to the door I tried guessing whom it was as I wasn't expecting anyone, my best bet was Joe but boy was I wrong. The person standing on the other side of the door was none other than Edward Cullen. When I opened the door, he said nothing he just hugged me. I stood frozen in the doorway, not expecting that at all. He eventually pulled away, but still said nothing.

"Hey to you too," I said smiling, "What was that for?"

"Erm…I guess it was a thank you for saving my life," he replied

"Ok…well you could have just said so, you didn't have to put yourself through that torture," I replied jokingly. He smiled.

"Yeah…but I wanted too, it was totally worth it," We both laughed, and I hit his arm playfully

"Idiot," I muttered

"Yeah, yeah" He said, "So about today at school, sorry about that we didn't mean to ignore you we just thought that maybe you didn't want to talk to us considering –" he said trailing off.

"Hey don't worry about it, I get it, its all cool,"

"So are you here by yourself?" he questioned

"Yeah just me," I said trying to hide that I was upset about it but failing miserably.

"Why don't you come stay with me?" he asked. I froze, not expecting that, blinked a few times and took a deep breath before answering his question.

**So? What did you think? Please review! It'll inspire me to write more and publish more chapters faster! Please!**


	10. Family Bonding

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringement intended!**

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, life has been a little hectic and I wasn't really happy with what I had written so I had to re-write it until I was, which is why you had to wait a little longer for this chapter. It's a bit short, but I felt that it was a good place for this chapter to stop, so sorry for it's shortness but yeah. So, enjoy the following chapter!  
**

Before I got the chance to answer however, a loud crash was heard from the living room. My head snapped in the direction of the noise before turning back to Edward.

"Stay here," I ordered, before running into the living room but froze as soon as I saw who the person was.

"Grandma?" I questioned, "What are you doing here?" I said hugging her.

"Just thought I'd come to offer some advice," she answered

"Yeah," I replied sarcastically letting her go before turning around to see a slightly confused Edward.

"Edward, this is my Grandmother, Penelope," I said. Edward did not reply instead he nodded his head looking confused.

"Well, really it would be you who became friends with a vampire," Penelope stated. I laughed.

"Yeah, well I'm not one to hold grudges and before you say anything yes Matt and Chris do know about him and his family,"

"Ashley, you underestimate me. I already know that dear,"

"Of course you do," I replied bitterly,

"Sorry, but what are you?" Edward asked

"Oh, sorry I'm a ghost. Well sort, it's all very confusing," Penelope replied

"Ok, then," Edward replied

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

"Well, just to warn you really. I can't give you too many details but just be careful, please. I mean you are here all by yourself, who knows what could happen,"

"Grandma what's going on?" I asked. She remained silent.

"Penelope," I pushed. She looked at me before giving in, sighing.

"Look, I can't tell you much, rules and all, but please be careful,"

"I don't understand,"

"There are things you don't know, things about your past and I can't tell you what they are. You have to find out by yourself, but until you do and even after you are going to be in danger –"

"Like I'm not already," I interrupted.

"I know but with your brothers gone and you turning 17 soon, you need to be careful. All I can say is remember the stories that your mother told you and use the books, all of them, even the ones your brothers told you not to touch. You'll need them now, and keep an eye on your powers. When you figure it out let me know. Be careful. Good luck,"

"Penelope, I don't remember any of the stories though," I whispered

"Think about it, it'll come to you. I have to go now, but if you can get away from this house for now, and protect the one you go to, if you can't protect this house," Penelope walked over and hugged me, and I couldn't bring myself to let go and eventually she disappeared. I turned and looked at Edward.

"So, your house?" I asked

"Yeah, come on," he replied

He helped me pack some of my stuff, and started to load the car when I went up to the attic to find the books I needed. The attic was where we kept all of our magical stuff, like our spell books and potions. I packed all of the spell books and a few other books that I was never allowed to see before, along with a few essential potions and protection crystals. It wasn't long before I joined Edward in his car and we made our way to his house.

Waiting for us on the front porch of the house was Alice jumping up and down, so fast that I was actually worried for her.

"Calm down Alice," I said getting out of my car.

"Can't help it so excited," she replied quickly, "We are gonna have so much fun," I nodded slowly.

'_Can't say I'm not frightened by her right now. She's way too excited.'_ I projected my thoughts to Edward, who froze when he heard them and realized I was talking to him. He turned to me, confused. I smiled back and made my way into the house with some of my things.

It wasn't long before I was settled into their house and I had placed the protection crystals around the house. Edward and I sat in his room talking about nothing until he brought up Penelope.

"So, about this afternoon" I rolled my eyes.

"What about it?" I replied dryly

"What was your grandma talking about?" he inquired

"To be honest, I'm not too sure. I remember my mum telling us stories, well more like legends. One she talked about more often than the others, but I can't remember it, it was about a witch, but that's about it," I replied

"So, all those books you brought with you?"

"Are research material," I answered quickly.

We then fell into a comfortable silence. But then I was pulled into a vision: it was of a girl, it seemed a new girl was coming into town and then Edward appeared in the vision. It was of Edward and the new girl in biology, and then it ended. I got up quickly, and ran to find Alice. She and Rose were in the living room talking. When I reached the room, Alice was being pulled into a vision, I ran up to her and placed by hands either side of her head, as to stop Edward from seeing the vision himself. Once, she came out of it, I removed my hands and told her not to think about it, that he couldn't know. Alice said nothing, she just nodded her head. Rose, then cleared her throat and looked at us questioningly. We just smiled apologetically at her and I mouthed 'later', we couldn't tell her with Edward in the house because he couldn't know, not yet. Besides all we knew was that things were going to get a little more interesting around here.

**So? What did you guys think? Your opinions mean a lot to me and I would appreciate it greatly if you could review this chapter! So, please review! **


	11. Understanding

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! No copyright infringment intended!**

**A/N: I am sooo sorry that I haven't updated sooner like I said I would it's just that it was really hectic around my place during summer cos I was starting uni and then at uni I was never entirely happy with the chapters I had come up with, and I wanted to make sure it was as good as it could be for you guys!! So, i'm sooo sorry and now exmas are coming up but I will _try_ to upload another chapter before the end of the month! So, hopefully you will enjoy the next chapter of Before Bella!!  
**

Things fell into a comfortable routine during the next couple of weeks. I would go to school, go home and do research. I'm not quite sure when I started calling the Cullen house my home but it was the closest things I had to a home at the moment. Matt and Chris had come and gone as per usual, giving me no help what so ever on my past or whatever. I still hadn't got anywhere with that by the way, there are just too many stories and way too many books with tiny print. The Cullen's' offered to help but they can't know too much about my kind, Matt and Chris would kill me if they did, and I'm not quite ready for death.

"This is useless, there is nothing here!" I stated frustrated, throwing the book I was currently reading across Edward's room.

"Hey, calm down. You'll find what you're looking for eventually," Edward said calmly. I sighed.

"I'm sure I will, but I've been at this weeks and I've got nothing," I replied while lounging on the sofa.

"Just give it a rest for today and have a look some other day ok?"

"But – "Edward interrupted me with one of his looks.

"Ok, fine. So what do you wanna do then??" I asked

"Hmm, well I suppose we could go somewhere, away from all these books," he suggested

"Ok, but where?" I questioned

"Well, there is this place that I – "Edward started to reply before my phone started ringing.

"Sorry," I said to Edward before answering my phone. "Hello,"

"Hey, Ash its Joe,"

"Hey Joe, what's up?" I asked

"Not much, just wondering what's up with you?"

"Nothing new really,"

"Ok, so would you be able to come round? I need to talk to you. Unless you're busy or something," he asked.

"Erm actually Joe –"I started before Edward tapped my shoulder and signalled that I should go, I smiled at him before answering Joe. "Yeah, that sounds fine; I'll be round in like 15, yeah?"

"Cool, see you then," Joe replied before hanging up.

"Sorry, Edward. Maybe some other time, yeah?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he said half-smiling. I smiled slightly before giving him a peck on the cheek before going to Joe's house.

It wasn't long after that, that strange things started happening, and I mean strange even for me. It was like things kept happening around me, things that I'm pretty sure I wasn't doing. Magical things I mean. First it was fire; every time I got really mad something would just burst into flames. Then after the fire came water and wind. At first, I just thought it was a demon playing tricks on me, trying to freak me out before he strikes and believe me it was working, a little too well for my liking.

I didn't realise that it had anything to do with me until I got hit by a car. I guess it was my fault really; paranoia can make you do really stupid things. But the thing is that I didn't get hurt, well not really a few little scratches here and there when it should have been so much worse, even Carlisle thought so. That was when I realised what was going on, and what Penelope had said sort of made sense though I didn't want to believe it.

I was sitting with Edward in his room listening to music when it all clicked into place, yet hoping I was wrong. I quickly got up and ran towards my pile of research books and pulled out the one book with the story I needed, and re-read it. I then looked up at Edward.

"I found it," I whispered

"Found what?" he asked

"The answer," Edward looked confused. "I've found what Penelope was talking about and why weird stuff keeps happening to me,"

"Oh," Edward replied, and then after a moment silence, "Well, what is it?"

"Nothing good," I answered. "I didn't think about it before because according to the story in this book, she died but mum told it differently. According to my mum, she wasn't killed, she was just reborn into someone else and that person would only be able to tap into that power if they were born a witch," I explained.

"What's the bad part?" he inquired

"Well, she was really powerful so she attracted a lot of demons, her powers included being able to manipulate fire, water and wind along with her normal witch powers, which was all of the possible powers a witch could have like me. The thing was she was always destined to die, and you never knew when she wouldn't come back like me with the car," Edward sat in silence contemplating what I had just said, while I resisted the urge to listen to his thoughts.

"Say something," I pleaded

"I don't know what to say Ash," he said

"At least that's a start," he chuckled lightly

"I suppose we should tell everyone properly cos I'm pretty sure they all heard that conversation," I stated

"Yeah probably," Edward agreed

So we got up and made our way downstairs, asking everyone to meet us down there on the way. So I told everyone else what I had realised, and they took it surprisingly well.

"So, now that you all know I just have to ask that you don't tell anyone and thank you guys for letting me stay here but I think it would be best if I move back to my old home," I said

"Why do you think that?" Carlisle asked

"Well, because like I said demons will be more attracted to me which means they will be coming after me and I don't want to put you guys in the middle of my problem," I replied shrugging my shoulder, " Trust me I'll be fine,"

"Yes, you will be," Carlisle said, "Because you will be staying here,"

"But – "I started

"No buts. It's sweet of you to think of us but you're not going anywhere and you can do whatever you want to the house to make you feel safer," Carlisle stated and I couldn't help but nod.

"Besides, even if you did go we'd just drag you back," Rose added. I mock glared at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me.

We all then ended up spending the rest of the evening together, and nothing could have prepared us for what happened next.

**So?? What did you think?? Was it worth the wait?? I hope it was!! Let me know by dropping me a review!! Thanks!!**


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